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Visualization

Through visualization you can achieve a focused awareness while minimizing thoughts, emotions and physical pain. It will be useful to tape each exercise, and play it back while you are resting in a comfortable position.

Push your Tension away
Close your eyes. Give your tension or pain a color and, a shape. Pause. Now change the shape and color of your tension and/or pain. Pause. Push this second shape and color away until it is out of your awareness.

Colors
Close your eyes. Imagine your body filled with lights.

For example, red lights for, tension or pain, and blue lights for relaxation. Pause. Imagine the lights changing from red to blue, or from blue to red, and be aware of any physical sensation you may experience while this is taking place. Pause. Change all of the lights in your body to blue and experience the overall relaxation.

Mountain Path
Close your eyes... Imagine yourself leaving the area where you live... Leave the daily hassles and the fast pace behind... Imagine yourself going across a valley and moving closer and closer to a mountain range... Imagine yourself in a mountain range... You are going up a winding road... Find a place on the winding road to stop... Find a path to walk up... Start walking up the path... Find a comfortable place to stop on the path... At this place, take some time to examine all the tension and stress in your life... Give the tension and stress shapes and colors... Look at them very carefully and after you have done this, put them down on the side of the path... Continue walking up the path until you come to the top of a hill. Look out over the hill... What do you see? Find an inviting, comfortable place and go there... Be aware of your surroundings... What is your 'special' place like?... Be aware of the sights, smells and sounds. Be aware of how you are feeling... Get settled and gradually start to relax. You are now feeling totally relaxed... Experience being relaxed totally and completely... Look around at your special place once. more... Remember this is your special place to relax, and you can come here anytime you want to. Come back to the room and tell yourself that this imagery is something you have created, and you can use it whenever you want to feel relaxed.

This information has been approved by Shelby Jenkins, OTR and Chelsea Randall, MS, OTR/L (May 2012).